What is kimchi "brine"?
So I made kimchi for the first time a couple of days ago, and most of the recipes that I looked at were fairly similar. In this regard, all of them mentioned something that I'm not 100% sure on what it means.
So I followed the standard steps: I rubbed the cabbage leaves with salt until they started to wilt, soaked it in salted water for a few hours, drained and rinsed the cabbage, squeezed out most of the water from the leaves, and then combined them with the rest of the ingredients and chilli paste before putting it all into a fermentation jar.
However, every recipe that I saw said that once the mixture was in the jar, I needed to push it down until the brine was covering the vegetables. I pushed it down but, other than getting rid of the air-pockets, it didn't seem that there was any "brine" that was covering the vegetables.
Worrying that I had squeezed too much liquid out of the cabbage leaves and this was the "brine" that it was referring to, I added a little more water back in until it was just about covering everything.
The recipe also stated that I should check the kimchi daily to make sure that the vegetables were still beneath the brine. However when I went back to check, there was a large amount of liquid above the vegetables. Now I'm worried that adding more water to the mixture was a huge mistake.
Did I mess up? And if so, can I just drain off the excess liquid and fix the issue? Or is it fine that there is a lot of water covering the vegetables?
Best Answer
This is not simply about water or liquid covering the veg, but brine (salted liquid) covering the veg. The brine is necessary for fermentation and safety. I would worry that your rinse and soak steps washed away too much salt. There is no way to know for sure from your description. When I make kimchi, I salt the cabbage, and leave in a colander overnight for excess moisture to drain. Then without rinsing, I proceed with the rest of the ingredients. I pack into a container. There is typically enough brine to keep the ingredients in liquid for the fermentation to proceed safely. If you have kept yours refrigerated, eat it. If it has been at room temp, with low to no salt, I would be concerned.
Pictures about "What is kimchi "brine"?"
Does kimchi have brine?
The liquid brine from Kimchi\u2014a traditional side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish, made with a widely varying selection of seasonings including gochugaru (chili powder), spring onions, garlic, ginger, and jeotgal (salted seafood), etc.What is the difference between brined and fermented pickles?
An easy way to remember the difference between the two despite their overlap is that pickling involves putting food into an acidic brine to produce a sour flavor, whereas fermenting gives food a sour flavor without any added acid.What is fermented brine?
Lacto-Fermentation Process The salt-brine method involves two stages: In stage one of lacto-fermentation, vegetables are submerged in a brine that is salty enough to kill off harmful bacteria.What is the difference between sauerkraut and kimchi?
Taste: Sauerkraut has a tangy, acidic taste, whereas kimchi tastes salty, possibly even spicy. The signature kimchi taste is sometimes called umami (translated to mean savoriness). Kimchi can vary in taste due to the exact vegetables you use to make it, while sauerkraut always tastes like fermented cabbage.How to brine cabbage for kimchi
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